Top Holders and Long Snappers In NFL History

OPINION
By John Turney

Well, in this exercise "NFL history" begins in the 1950s but we will be guilty of 'recentism' because there is more data these days to go by than in the 1950s and 1960s. But we do hope to share some names you have not heard in a while or maybe never heard of.

Do enjoy, and correct us if you think we missed someone...we likely have. All we are trying to do is celebrate some of the great specialists in the history of the game so we welcome comments -- it is not an exhaustive list on either holers or longsnappers.

Holders

Credit: LA Times

1. Nolan Cromwell—He's number one on Rick Gosselin's list as well. The reason we have him number one is that he's one holder that could win or seal a game with a fake. We've seen him do it quite a few times, more than anyone else. He was a tremendous athlete with great speed and good hands. He was also a college quarterback so he could throw as well.

There may be a holder or two with slightly better hands, but no one had his legs and impact on a game. Cromwell was a true weapon.

It should also be noted that he was a good special team player on the punt block team (six career blocks) as well. And was often the safety on the kick coverage teams because he was a good tackler and had excellent speed, so using him as the last line of defense was a good idea.

2. David Humm—Said by Bob Chandler to have the best hands ever.

3. Brad Maynard—Ranked second by Gosselin, we will go with that.

4. Paul Krause—Ranked third by Gosselin. Note that Krause is old school in that he has his front leg forward. You don't see that anymore but it used to be the norm.

Now players are coached not to do that is because it's dangerous for the holder to have his front leg sticking out because somebody could land on it. Although Krause does have it tucked as opposed to Whitsell (below) so the leg is not as vulnerable.

Also, when a holder kneels on his front knee he can use the back leg as a backstop since that where where he's catching the ball and placing it so the spot and setting the ball down becomes much more consistent and less prone to error.

5. Dave Whitsell—Excellent holder and the best edge place kick blocker ever. There may be a couple inside rushers with better numbers but no one from the edge. As mentioned, Whitsell has his front leg stretched out like Krause and is kneeling on his back knee. In this position, an edge rusher could lay out and land on the outstretched leg and possibly cause an injury.

6. Sam Koch—These days the snappers and holders are so good that it's hard to critique them. Koch represents the near perfection of today's holders, almost all of who are punters. What we know is on his watch the kickers have been great.

7. Bill Troup—Always ranked high by pro scouting firm in the 1970s.

8. Bob Chandler—Held for the Bills and then the Raiders. 

9. Hunter Smith—Called by one of his special teams coaches, "The best ever".

10. Eddie Meador—Like Cromwell, also a Ram and also wore #21, he could execute a fake as well as anyone outside of Cromwell. He rushed for 59 yards on six fakes and one touchdown and also threw a touchdown on a fake.

11. Joe Theismann—Quick out of his 'holder kneel' could roll and throw. We do know he wasn't loved by Deacon Jones. In 1974, in the final game of the season, the Redskins were blowing out the Chicago Bears. Jones talked George Allen into letting him kick an extra point if the Redskins scored a touchdown, which they did. However, Theismann refused to hold for Jones until the Deacon had a word with him, "I had the threaten the little prick to get him to hold for me".

Also not Theismann is kneeling on his back knee, perhaps one of the last to do it that way. But as we know, Theismann's leg was not injured when he was holding for a kick.

12. Jeff Feagles—Like Maynard held hell for a long time.

13. John Hadl—Held when he was with the Chargers then with the Oilers but not for the Rams in 1973-74.

14. Steve Dils—Like Humm, great hands.

15. Koy Detmer—Stayed in the league largely because he could hold. One of the last of the quarterback-as-holder era.

16. Brian Baschnagel—Another high ranker in the eyes of one pro scouting firm.

17. Roger Wehrli—Scored a touchdown on a fake in his first and last NFL season.

18. Larry Wilson

19. John Sciarra—Interesting player. A college quarterback converted to safety but would sometimes play quarterback in goal line situations for the Eagles.

20. Johnny Hekker—Anyone who can hold and point out to the referee that there are 12 men on the defensive side of the ball at the same time deserves a spot here. He also can throw on fake kicks like he does on punts.

21. Jeff Rutledge

22. Jason Baker

23. Charlie Waters

24. Brian Moorman—Did it playing in cold, windy Buffalo.

25t. Danny White—A Gil Brandt entry

25t. Sane Lechler

25t. Pete Holohan—Terrific hands. One of the few tight ends to hold.

25t. Elroy Hirsch—A HOF receiver with excellent hands.

25t. Joe Scarpati—Longtime holder for Eagles, held for Tom Dempsey's 63-yard field goal in 1970 for the Saints.

Sure, we could list many more names, but we just can only assume guys like Sonny Jurgensen, John Brodie, or Len Dawson or all the punters now did a good job our someone else would do it. George Allen, in his 1985 book on special teams mentioned Richie Petitbon and Bobby Boyd of the Colts as well.

As we've mentioned would love some anecdotal evidence from kickers, snappers in the NFL and the retired guys to hear some stories as to why their guy, their holder was the best.

Long Snappers
We've sorted them by games played but that is not how we rank them. We really cannot rank them because there is not a way we know of to do that, short of tracking each snap's accuracy and velocity.

We do, however, talk to people we trust and get input about that. One person said the most important things are #1 Accuracy #2 Not having a "hitch" prior to the snap #3 Velocity.

The names on the list that played 105 games or less (aside from Anno) are recommendations from George Allen in his book on special teams.

Recently, Hall of Fame voter Rick Gosselin ranked the long snappers with Steve DeOssie first, Patrick Mannelly second, and Don Muhlbach, third.

That order sounds fine to us.

After that, we'd go with Junkin, Hellastrae, Dorenbos, Mike Morris, Zak DeOssie (probably the best at getting downfield and making tackles since Rich Saul), Mike McDonald (maybe had the best accuracy and velocity and no "hitch"), Dan Turk.

Bush and Maples were starting centers a good portion of his career, Tingelhoff was a starter his whole career and handled all snaps. Bobby Bell and D.D. Lewis were starting linebackers.

Who was the first? No one knows. Could it be Joe Reid of the 1951 Rams? We've seen films of that team and the only time we saw #52 was long snapping but not enough to know how many games he did it. He didn't begin the season doing it (he was a tookie) but did, at some point, take over the job. So, the question remains. 

Tom Catlin snapped for the Browns in 1958 and was not the starting center (1957, too, but missed four games) and George Allen named him as one of the best he'd ever seen. He certainly was a pioneer of an exclusive snapper for kicks. 

George Burman was the Rams long-snapper from 1967-70, according to George Allen in his special teams book released in the late 1980s but we've never confirmed the specifics. However, he missed 1968 with an injury and often didn't snap for placekicks—only punts through 1970. That year he was the long snapper for both placements and punts. He went on to do the same for Washington for the next couple of seasons. 

Another player of note was Bob Whitlow who snapped for placements and punts in 1968 for the Browns. Cannot confirm if he did that earlier than that, though. The question was if he did it long enough. This is certainly a subject that more research is needed, but there is not a lot written about it. Believe me, we've tried to find more answers.

So, if we've omitted anyone, please let us know. We are sure that guys like Jim Otto did a credible job, but we'd love to hear the stories. Todd Christensen and Wesley Walls were a pair of tight ends who were excellent long snappers. Jeff Robinson was a defense end— and then a tight end—but was a long snapper his entire career.

With some of the field and game conditions back in the day, sometimes just getting a kick or punt off was likely a feat. So if there is more to this, we are all ears; we would love to learn more about the esoteric aspects of special teams play.

Junkin

Some notables, though not a complete list of snappers who spent all or part of their careers long-snapping—

Name	Years				Games
Trey Junkin	1983	—	2002		281
David Binn	1994	—	2010		256
Blair Bush	1978	—	1994		246
Patrick Mannelly	1998	—	2013		245
Mick Tingelhoff	1962	—	1978		240
Ethan Albright	1995	—	2010		236
Kendall Gammon	1992	—	2006		234
Don Muhlbach	2004	—	2018		228
John Denny	2005	—	2018		224
L.P. Ladouceur Dave Moore Dan Turk	2005 1992 1985	— — —	2018 2006 1999		221 220 218
Brian Jennings	2000	—	2012		208
Dale Hellastrae	1985	—	2001		205
Adam Schreiber	1984	—	1999		202
Jeff Robinson Jon Dorenbos	1993 2003	— —	2009 2016		202 201
Adam Lingner	1983	—	1995		200
Guy Bingham	1980	—	1993		199
Brian Kinchen	1988	—	2003		193
Lonie Paxton	2000	—	2011		189
Ed Brady	1984	—	1995		188
Mike Morris	1981	—	1999		188
Zak DeOssie	2007	—	2018		188
D.D. Lewis	1968	—	1981		186
Bobby Maples	1965	—	1978		184
Rob Davis	1996	—	2007		183
Greg Warren	2005	—	2016		180
Rich Saul	1970	—	1981		176
Steve DeOssie	1984	—	1995		175
Cullen Loeffler	2004	—	2014		171
Mike Bartrum	1993	—	2006		171
Bobby Bell	1963	—	1974		168
Mark Rodenhauser	1987	—	1999		168
Garrison Sanborn	2009	—	2018		160
J.J. Jansen	2009	—	2018		160
Kevin Houser	2000	—	2010		159
Mike Schneck	1999	—	2009		159
Randy Kirk	1987	—	1999		157
Trevor Matich	1985	—	1996		148
Brad St. Louis	2000	—	2009		144
Chris Massey	2002	—	2011		141
Jim Pietrzak	1974	—	1987		140
Morgan Cox	2010	—	2018		134
Jon Weeks	2010	—	2018		134
Nick Sundberg	2010	—	2018		120
Tom Goode	1962	—	1970		113
Ed Perry Josh Harris	1997 2012	— —	2005 2018		109 107
Charlie Ane	1975	—	1981		105
Mike McDonald	1983	—	1992		104
Dan Ryczek	1973	—	1979		102
Sam Anno	1987	—	1993		102
Ted Fritsch	1972	—	1979		102
Bob Whitlow	1960	—	1968		100
Kyle Nelson	2012	—	2018		93
Pail Crane	1966	—	1972		88
George Burman Vic Lindskog	1964 1944	— —	1972 1951		85 78
John Rapacz	1948	—	1954		76
Larry Strickland	1954	—	1959		62
Tom Catlin	1953	—	1959		51

List has been updated